Royal Mile

Ok well I can say that being in the UK is exciting, at least on the weekends. During the week of course it wouldn’t matter where I am really. New York, Chicago, Dayton OH, Milwaukee WI, Minneapolis MN, or Petersfield UK in all of these places I get up shower get dressed, put in 9-12 hours and come back to the hotel. I try to get a little work out in, maybe read a bit of a book, answer personal emails, or watch some TV. But being in an exotic location does allow for me to do some fun things on the weekends. So the week after RG and I went to Northern England and through Whales we headed up to Scotland. However this time my Parents were in town, so in a slight role reversal I planned a weekend trip and drove the four of us in my small Peugeot 308 four door to Edinburgh. We stayed at a nice little inn about 8 miles from the city center and had an easy commute to sight see.

We drove up Friday afternoon and got in rather late, though we did have time to stop for a nice dinner at a pub on the way. The next morning we didn’t get up ridiculously early but since most sites are only open a few hours a day in Europe you always need to get going if you want to see more than one thing. So on the way into town we stopped at the Roslyn Chapel the same one from the book and movie the Da Vinci Code. It was undergoing some repairs and the building was covered by a tin roof, so from a distance it looked like a farm shed, but once you got closer you could see this was no ordinary church. It was supposedly built by members of the Knights Templar that had visited the Americas long before Columbus and was filled with strange carvings for a church. It was a very strange place really. I was a little surprised though that were not more visitors there. I guess it is just too out of the way to get as much attention as the Churches in London and Paris that were also featured in the story.

Then we headed into town. The plan was to see as many sights as we could along what is know as the Royal Mile; a stretch of cobblestone road leading from the Royal palace at the base of a hill to Edinburgh Castle at the top of the same hill in the center of the city. Most of the places to see are along this stretch and we packed a lot in. Though I have to say I could have been a little more relaxed as I got somewhat frustrated by the whole parking situation, but that is what it is. The area is picturesque to say the least, full of 4-6 story stone buildings that house fancy wool shops, armories, a few cafés, some hotels, and a lot of specialty tourist shops. Each byway is a scene out of another medieval time. It is said the progressions of Royals would go from the palace to the castle on a regular basis and may time this was similar to a parade like atmosphere. But on the overcast day we were there we did not see any Royals.

We did however see Willem Wallace. Or for movie fans out there, Braveheart. Dressed in a Kilt, face painted blue, and carrying that four foot log broad sword. Try as I might I could not get my dad to take his photo with the guy. That would have certainly been a highlight – probably for RG and me than for my dad, but the way he talks about that movie you would think he would have jumped at the opportunity. So we toured the Castle, an old church, walked by the Scottish Parliament, walked by the royal palace, took a tour of an underground abandoned close (more on this in a future post), and RG and I took a Scotch Whiskey tour while my parents walked the shopping district a few blocks away. The Scotch tour was very interesting though, and we got to do a little sampling. As for the next day we headed back south and saw some Roman ruins, which I and my dad found fascinating, I don’t RG was as impressed though.

I don’t think it is going to happen but I would love to go up to Scotland again and tour further north. I saw adds for a Highland tour that includes the Locke Ness and there are also a few other sights of famous battles and Scottish rebellion that would be fun to visit. But it is a LONG drive to get there so I doubt it will happen while I am working over here. Maybe I will take two weeks to do a longer tour of Ireland and Scotland in a couple of years.